Senegal’s Keita Baldé joins French champions Ligue 1

Senegalese striker Diao Keïta Baldé has joined French Ligue1 side AS Monaco for a five-year contract, the club announced Tuesday.

“AS Monaco is delighted to announce the signing of Keïta Baldé until 2022,” the Ligue 1 reigning champions said on Twitter. The amount of the transaction is estimated at 30 million euros.

Formed in FC Barcelona’s the training center, La Masia, the 22 year-old Senegalese international, born in Spain, is coming out of a prolific season with 16 goals and 3 assists in 31 Serie A games.

Since the Kylian Mbappé’s departure for Paris Saint-Germain, AS Monaco had activated several tracks in order to find a replacement. And the number one option was Keïta Baldé who was also in the books of Inter Milan, AC Milan, Naples and Juventus Turin which had priority to sign but offered only about 15 million euros.

Baldé will join the Senegalese national team in training in Saly (about 80 km from Dakar) for a double confrontation between the “Lions” and the “Stallions” of Burkina, as part of the 3rd and 4th day of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.